1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus, such as an ink jet type printer.
2. Related Art
Generally, an ink jet type printer has been widely known as a liquid ejecting apparatus which ejects liquid onto a target object. Such an ink jet type printer performs printing in such a manner that a liquid ejecting head supported by a carriage (a movable body) which reciprocates in a scanning direction ejects ink (liquid) onto a paper sheet (a target object) through nozzles. A certain type of printer adjusts a distance between a liquid ejecting head and a paper sheet, when performing printing, in such a manner that a vertical position of a carriage is adjusted in accordance with a thickness of the paper sheet.
In this type of printer, a certain printer is configured such that a movement guiding member which extends in a scanning direction and has a sliding surface is installed in a fixed manner and a carriage reciprocates in the scanning direction in a state where the carriage is mounted on the sliding surface. In addition, a so-called capping operation in which a cap member abuts on the liquid ejecting head so as to surround nozzles is performed to prevent printing failure which is caused by ink in nozzles, which has dried during a non-printing period, such as a non-operation period.
In other words, a printer includes a cap member (a cap) which can abut (come into contact with) on a liquid ejecting head which is supported on a lower surface of a carriage so as to surround nozzles. The cap member is provided on a slide body (an interlocking portion) which moves, in a sliding manner, along with the carriage in a scanning direction in such a manner that the carriage which moves, along a movement guiding member (a guide rail), on a sliding surface in the scanning direction abuts on the slide body. The cap member is configured such that, in accordance with a sliding movement of the slide body, the cap member moves (moves in a vertical direction) between a retreated position in which the cap member does not abut on the liquid ejecting head during a printing period and an abutment position (a contact position) in which the cap member abuts on the liquid ejecting head during the non-printing period (see JP-A-2009-34821, for example).
To change the vertical position of the carriage to adjust the distance between the liquid ejecting head and the paper sheet, a printer described above is generally configured such that the carriage can move, on the sliding surface, in an up and down direction substantially perpendicular to the sliding surface. Furthermore, a moving force is applied to the carriage in such a manner that a driving belt connected to a part of the carriage moves. Meanwhile, the cap member that abuts on the liquid ejecting head which is supported on the lower surface of the carriage is located lower than the liquid ejecting head, and thus the slide body having the cap member abuts on the carriage, normally at a position lower than a connection portion between the carriage and the driving belt.
In the printer, when the capping operation is performed, a moving force of the carriage by the driving belt and a reaction force of the slide body, which is caused by abutting of the slide body on the carriage, are applied to the carriage, in an opposite direction. Therefore, a turning force is generated in the carriage. In this case, a position in which the moving force is applied to the connection portion is located more apart from the sliding surface than the abutment position in which the reaction force is applied to the carriage, and thus the generated turning force acts to cause the carriage to be separated from the sliding surface. As a result, a part of the carriage which can move, on the sliding surface, in the up and down direction is separated from the sliding surface, and thus a posture of the carriage inclines. Therefore, when moving the carriage, in the scanning direction, to a reference position of the carriage, in which, for example, the capping operation is performed, there is a problem in that the carriage cannot accurately move to the reference position due to the inclined posture of the carriage.
This problem is not limited to an ink jet type printer. In other words, the problem described above is mainly common to a liquid ejecting apparatus in which a cap member abuts on the liquid ejecting head in such a manner that a slide body which is mounted on a sliding surface and which has a cap member that abuts on a liquid ejecting head supported by a movable body that can move along the sliding surface abuts on the movable body in a moving state and thus moves along with the movable body.